Harry Potter and the Metamorphosis Manifesto
by Meaghan McCormack
Summary: Set immediately following the close of DH, Hermione begins to suspect that Harry's new job not the safe and quiet role he claims. Why did Harry start working for the Ministry after 18 years? And to what lengths will his new enemy go to draw Harry out?
1. All Was Well

His scar hadn't bothered him in 19 years. All was well.

The sea of parents and siblings was thinning out as, one family at a time, the witches and wizards made their way through the barrier back into the Muggle side of Kings Cross. Harry scooped Lily up from the empty luggage cart where she was sitting, although she was getting much too big for this sort of activity. She laughed out loud, momentarily forgetting the distress at being left behind by her two older brothers.

"You're going to hurt her, you know," said Hermione, coming over with Ron and Hugo in tow.

"Don't be silly," said Ron, grabbing his niece from Harry and throwing her over his shoulder in a fireman's hold. She shrieked with laugher. "Little Lily is light as a feather!" Hermione looked on disapprovingly and Ginny shook her head.

"How're mum and dad? Ooph!" Ron asked Ginny as Lily began to kick him repeatedly in the chest. He put her down quickly and she scampered off with Hugo.

Hermione gave a surreptitious jerk of the head towards Harry, indicating she wanted to speak to him privately. The platform had almost entirely cleared out but Harry still felt this was probably a wise time for a private conversation – there were so many Weasleys these days that Ron and Ginny's family catch-up could last quite a while.

"Hey Hermione, thanks again for taking the kids on holiday this summer, Ginny and I really appreciated it," Harry said.

"It's no problem at all, we loved having them and I know how hard it is to get some alone time these days," said Hermione quickly, clearly eager to get to the point of the conversation. Harry could tell this wasn't going to be a just a casual chat. "Harry, I need to talk to you about some of the rumours I'm hearing about you work."

Hermione had put her skills towards building a very impressive career in the Ministry's intelligence arm, where she was now overseeing the division responsible for liaising with senior Muggle officials to uphold the security of the Wizarding world – and determining where any breaches had occurred.

Harry had been offered a rather spectacular range of jobs in the aftermath of Voldemort's defeat – including the post of Special Advisor to the Minister of Magic (a position that, reputation and history dictated, was held by someone who would end up Minister himself), the Headmastership of Hogwarts (a post both Hermione and Professor McGonagall said quite clearly he couldn't take even if he'd wanted to given the fact he hadn't actually graduated) and the captainship of the frankly hopeless Chudley Cannons (an offer which Ron, who had gone into business with George at the Weasley Wizard Wheezes, was greatly envious of).

Ignoring all of the offers, Harry had declined to take any job at all in a move that his friends called a well-deserved rest and _The Prophet_ called "an example of lazy celebrities coasting on past glory." Harry had busied himself with home DIY in the cozy flat he had bought in the Devon town of Newton Poppleford just ten minutes from The Burrow and from Teddy Lupin and his grandparents, and visiting friends. After Harry's marriage to Ginny, he became a full-time husband and father while she started a successful boutique PR firm, aided by a surprisingly competent Luna Scamander. Harry, it seemed, relished and appreciated every moment of his absurdly quiet and normal life.

Then, less than a week after James had left for his first year at Hogwarts, Harry shocked everyone with the announcement that he had taken a strategic role with Special Magical Operations, the rather shadowy Ministry arm that dealt with serious threats to the wizarding world. _The Prophet_ had had a field day, speculating as to what The Chosen One would be doing – as well as what new threat had called him back into action. Yet Harry insisted to his friends and family that it was nothing more than something to keep him occupied as it wouldn't be long before all three of his children would be off at Hogwarts. At the time Hermione had been suspicious but her position gave her a great deal of insight into government operations and, as she told a very distraught Ginny Potter, there seemed to be no significant threat or danger on the horizon that would affect Harry in his new role.

The only real change, it seemed, was a renewed focus on Harry in the news, with continued speculation as to the nature of his job and, when real news was scarce – as was often the case these days – unfounded rumours about his personal life which is what Harry thought Hermione might be referring to now.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Hermione, if you believed every rumour about me I'd be competing with Don Juan for bragging rights. And probably have about two dozen illegitimate children." Unconsciously he glanced at Ginny who was laughing at something Ron had said. Even after all these years his heart still raced at the sight of her smile.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about Harry, don't play dumb. You promised us, _all _of us, that you were going to stay away from field work. You'd stick to training, analysis, strategy..."

"Desk work," Harry interrupted her.

"Yes, desk work. And don't you dare say you're getting bored. The MagOps are lucky to have you, and I know what you do isn't just desk work. But now," she lowered her voice as Ginny glanced over at them. "Now I see all of these classified interdepartmental memos with your name on them floating through the Ministry and hear that you're coming and going at all hours of the day..."

"Who's saying that?" Harry demanded.

"It doesn't matter!"

"Come on, who says I'm coming and going from the department?"

"Well... Dennis Creevey," said Hermione sheepishly. "But," she added quickly, "he's not the only one who thinks there's something going on at MagOps we don't know about!"

Harry laughed. "Come on, Hermione, Dennis Creevey? That guy thinks that when I go to the loo I'm going on a secret mission. And of course the interdepartmental memos going to me are classified – _everything_ going into MagOps is classified!"

"I think you're keeping something from me Harry, and it's not fair to any of us. I don't know what's going on but I intend to find out," Hermione scowled.

"And with your immense powers of deduction, if there is something going on, I'm sure you will find it," said Harry, kissing Hermione on the forehead. "Just, do me a favour, and don't mention any of your conspiracy theories to Ron or Ginny. I get enough grief from what _The Prophet_ says about me."

With that he walked back over to where Ron and Ginny had started to argue about whose turn it was to host Christmas dinner this year leaving a frustrated Hermione behind.

"Mummy?" asked a voice next to her, breaking through her tremulous thoughts.

"What is it Hugo?"

"Is Uncle Harry ok?"

"I hope so, kiddo, I really hope so."

The trip to Kings Cross had taken most of the morning and before heading back to their respective homes and jobs, the six remaining Potters and Weasleys had opted for a quick lunch at a Muggle restaurant called Nandos that Ron was quite partial to. Harry had taken everyone's order down on a napkin and had gone up to the counter with Ron to order the food.

"Hermione's been up all night," Ron said as they stood in the queue. "Crying about our little girl going off to Hogwarts and when did they get so old... me, I'm just looking forward to some more free time! Half the kids, half the work!"

Harry laughed. "It's not really going to work out that way," he said. "Besides, I could definitely see your misty eyes when Rose got on that train. Don't worry, I had to tell Al and Lily I had a cold for a week after James left last year."

Ron grinned but his grin froze as something outside the restaurant window caught his eye.

"Hey, is that _Draco Malfoy_? I wouldn't have expected him to hang around in this part of London any longer than he had to, too many muggles. And where's that hideous wife of his?"

"You know she's the charity and fundraising director for St. Mungos," laughed Harry. For all the time that had passed and wounds that had healed sometimes it hit him how much oldest childhood grudges and memories had stayed with them. He still couldn't eat a peppermint humbug without expecting a plate of Hogwarts roast beef and nothing would ever make Ron do more than grudgingly tolerate Draco Malfoy's continued existence.

"Yeah, whatever she is, I just want to know why Malfoy is hovering around Kings Cross in that ridiculous coat all alone. Maybe she's left him now that their kid is off to school!"

"Hold on just a sec, ok? I'll be right back," said Harry.

"You're not going to go talk to him, are you? Harry, what are you doing mate?" Ron called at his friend but Harry took no notice and left the shop, quickly crossing the street toward the tall, pale figure on the other side. Ron strained to get a better look at the pair of them but was distracted by a bored-looking, gum-popping woman behind the counter.

"I said, what's your table number and your order," she repeated. Ron glanced back across the street quickly just in time to see the tail of Malfoy's coat whip around the corner. With a feeling for foreboding, he turned back to the counter to give their table's order.

"We can't keep meeting like this, people will talk," said Harry dryly.

"You always thought you were so funny, Potter."

"What at school? Not really, usually I thought I was going to die. Besides I wasn't joking. We've kept this operation under wraps for almost a year now, Hermione already suspects something. What's so important that it couldn't wait until I got back to the office? People aren't supposed to know you work for MagOps, you know."

"Clearwater's back."

"Great, she can debrief us when we're all back in the office. Again, not sure why this couldn't wait..."

Malfoy cut him off. "She's dead." Harry looked at him in surprise.

"So when you say she's back... did we send someone in to get her? What happened?"

"No, we didn't send someone in to get her. She came back. In a body bag. Someone knew who she was, who she was working for and delivered her body back to us. It's a pretty strong message, don't you think?"

"But no one below a level 3 clearance is even supposed to know where MagOps offices are," said Harry. "Things don't get _delivered_ to us, even interdepartmental memos have to be reverse apperated in by someone in the office.

"Exactly. Which is why this couldn't wait until you got back to the office. The office is gone, they moved locations this morning. Sloper found me at Kings Cross to let me know, said to tell you before you went back, we don't know if the old location is being watched."

Malfoy handed him a piece of paper with an address written on it.

_23 Blythe Road  
>London W14<em>

"We're putting MagOps under a Fidelius Charm?" asked Harry, shocked. "But that's only protocol in the case of..."

"Yeah, highest threat levels, blah blah blah. But Aesalon didn't make it to head of MagOps without being a bit paranoid, you know what the man's like. Have you memorised the address?"

"I've got it."

Malfoy gave a curt nod and turned to leave. Harry tried to process what he had just heard and wipe the shock from his face before returning to his family.

Hermione had gone to wash her hands and, although she wouldn't have admitted it, have a bit of a cry at Rose's departure. It was her first child leaving home after all. Eyes dried, she went to see what was taking the boys so long only to find Ron alone in at the counter, trying somewhat unsuccessfully t o pay with Muggle money so she went over to give him a hand, wondering where Harry had gone.

"Bloody Harry, leaving me to deal with paying when he _knows_ I don't get Muggle money," Ron was grumbling as they walked back to the table. "All so he could run off and have a heart to heart with Draco Malfoy."

"What?" asked Hermione, pull Ron back before they reached Ginny and the kids. "He did what?"

"I saw Malfoy across the street and Harry ran off to go talk to him. You know what he was like for ages after, well, you know. Tracking down all the Death Eaters kids we knew and telling him there were no hard feelings... maybe he just never got around to Malfoy."

At that moment Harry walked back into the restaurant and over to the two of them. Hermione stared at him suspiciously but didn't know how to start interrogating him without worrying Ron. As if reading her mind, Harry gave her a warning look.

"I'm starving, where's lunch?" he asked, and headed back to the table with Ron and Hermione trailing behind.

"Daddy!" shouted Lily as he sat down. "Guess what? Mommy said she's going to take me to Diagon Alley and we're going to buy a pet cat now that I'm all alone at home!"

"Did she now?" Harry asked. Ginny looked sheepish. "Well, you're going to have to pick out a good one for me – I've got to run back to the office unfortunately. Lots of paperwork."

"Ick, paperwork," said Lily. Harry, Ron and Ginny laughed but Hermione was lost in unpleasant thoughts of evil wizards, self-sacrifice and having a friend who would stop at nothing to keep those he loved safe.

A/N: Just a bit of fun after getting caught back up in the Harry Potter fandom after watching the 8th movie. Have a pretty good idea of where this is going but would appreciate any reviews to know what readers think so far!


	2. Special Magical Operations

2. Special Magical Operations

Harry had forgotten how frustrating Muggle transportation could be in London and sat on the top of a double decker bus, stuck in traffic. Lily and Hugo had been so excited when he explained that he could, if he wanted, take one of the Muggle buses to work that he didn't really have much choice but to board one at the stop outside of the restaurant. Now he was wondering if either the pierced youth in leather trousers or the long-haired man who looked as though he hadn't washed in a week would notice if he just apperated then and there – the three of them were the only people on the bus.

As the bus moved maddeningly slowly through central London, Harry thought about the last year and the situation he now found himself in. In the years immediately following Voledemort's defeat, Harry had kept in close contact with the Minister of Magic and later head of MagOps Kingsley Shacklebolt – even closer than any of his friends or family knew – to monitor news about Voldemort's old supporters. Aside from a couple of isolated incidents, there had been nothing of note and as the years passed, Harry's visits to the Ministry became fewer and fewer. There was still a core group of senior ministry officials who knew which circumstances were appropriate to bring to Harry's attention but after nearly 20 years, no one, including Harry himself, thought it likely any of those circumstances would arise.

Then, just a few days shy of a year before, Harry had received a visitor one morning while Ginny was out with Al and Lily. A knock on the door had distracted him from a peaceful internal debate between spending the morning cleaning out the attic or weeding the garden. Outside the house stood a bald, muscular man in his late 50's whom Harry had never seen before. The man was just slightly shorter than Harry and wore a dark blue cloak that looked, to Harry's best guess, military in design and three small round badges were pinned to the shoulder.

"Mr. Potter, we haven't had the pleasure. Aric Aesalon, head of Special Magical Operations."

"Ah, of course," said Harry, shaking Aesalon's hand. "You're the one who's taken over for Shaklebolt. Nice to meet you. I take it this isn't just an introductory visit?"

"Unfortunately not. May I come inside Mr. Potter?"

Without waiting for an answer, Aesalon stepped through the door and Harry followed his visitor to the kitchen.

"Let's get straight to the point Mr. Potter," said Aesalon.

"Please do. My wife and kids will be home soon and I'd rather not get them involved with anything to do with you. No offense, but MagOps doesn't exactly have a reputation for being the safest group of people."

"No offense taken. Now Mr. Potter, as I'm sure you're aware there's a very specific list of situations under which we are allowed to contact you for advice or support. I'm afraid to say that one of those situations has arisen."

Harry's heart sank. In some ways he had always known he was living a lifestyle that couldn't last, that his childhood fame, success, and – he could admit it now, years later – blind luck would someday come back to haunt him. He braced himself for the worst.

"The Elder Wand is missing from Dumbledore's tomb."

Harry sat down heavily on a kitchen chair. Of all of the possibilities, this was the one he had feared the most, the circumstance that would most directly affect himself and his family.

"How? I thought there were enough sensors on that thing to raise an alarm if the wind blew too hard! And the charms on the tomb were designed by Flitwick himself," said Harry. He felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him.

"Normally that's the case – I believe Shacklebolt told you about the incident eleven years ago where someone tried to steal the wand?"

"Of course, and the poor bastard nearly got himself killed trying to break the curses. When MagOps went to collect what was left of him they checked the tomb and the wand was fine!"

"Exactly. Yesterday we had another alert – someone else trying to break into the tomb, presumably to steal the wand. MagOps had a team there within minutes but this time the culprit wasn't as lucky and managed to actually get himself killed trying to break in. As is protocol, the team followed up with an inspection of the tomb however this time they discovered that the wand was missing."

"Missing?" demanded Harry.

"Dumbledore's body was undisturbed, the charms unbroken, the tomb seemingly untouched, but the wand was gone. Sometime in the last eleven years, someone managed to get in, steal the wand, and get out, all without us noticing. It was only pure chance that someone else tried to break in and failed, or we would never have known it was gone," explained Aesalon.

"And you have no idea when this could have happened?"

"It could have been as recently as last week or it could have been eleven years ago. We don't make it policy, Mr. Potter, to disturb the graves of the dead to monitor ancient artefacts," Aesalon said.

"You know as well as I do that the Elder Wand is more than just an artefact," said Harry angrily. "So what am I supposed to do? Wait here until someone shows up to kill me and gain the wand's powers for themselves?"

"Excellent question, Mr. Potter," said Aesalon. "And I would strongly recommend not waiting around for someone to kill you. It'd be bad for morale." Harry looked at him closely to see if he was making a joke but it appeared that he wasn't. "No, I believe it would be much more productive for you to come work for me for a little while."

"Absolutely not," said Harry firmly. "Part of the reason I've never taken a job with the Ministry was to avoid putting myself in a situation where I could somehow be defeated, inadvertently changing the allegiance of the Elder Wand. Now you're telling me that someone already has the wand so it makes even less sense to go work for the Ministry, let alone with MagOps where, if the rumours are true, people a lot more skilled than I get defeated rather gruesomely on a regular basis!"

Aesalon let Harry finish his rant without interrupting.

"I understand the risks associated with putting you in harm's way, Mr. Potter. The role I have in mind for you is more of a desk job."

Harry gave a harsh bark of laughter. "MagOps doesn't have desk jobs."

"A strategic role, then. Look Mr. Potter, I don't like the idea of an unknown witch or wizard having control over the Elder Wand any more than you do. I also don't like the idea of having to explain to your family, the public, the Minister and least of all the _Daily Prophet_ that you're dead when I knew full well someone was probably after you.

"With both of those dislikes in mind, I propose you come work in the safety of the MagOps office where we can keep an eye on you and you can help us figure out where the wand has gone. You know more than anyone else alive about the Elder Wand and the lore surrounding it. As soon as this has all been sorted out, you can go back to your quiet life of gardening and winning _Witch Weekly_'s most charming smile awards."

Harry stood and walked over to the kitchen window, staring out without answering. His mind was racing. With the Elder Wand missing, he was in a greater danger than he had been since Voldemort was defeated – in some ways more so because no one had a clue who this new enemy could be. On the other hand, whoever had taken the wand may have had it for years without bothering Harry or his family.

"I suppose it's too much to hope that this is just a very over-eager collector?" asked Harry.

"The thought did cross our minds," answered Aesalon. "But I've always subscribed to the belief that the most unpleasant option is also the most likely."

"That's a pretty depressing outlook."

"It's kept me alive through 30 years of MagOps work, nothing depressing about that. So what do you say, Mr. Potter? Will you help us find the Elder Wand and let us protect you?"

Harry turned back to face Aesalon with a sigh. "Fine. But no one can know about this, no one else can know the Wand is missing."

"That is very much the goal, Mr. Potter. Thank you, I'll see you on Monday morning." Aesalon reached out his hand again and Harry rather begrudgingly shook it with a sinking feeling in his chest.

To Harry's great surprise, the next few months proved to be immensely enjoyable and he began to wonder if he'd been silly to avoid getting a job for so long. As Aric Aesalon had promised, Harry's role was a strategic one – first training the other members of the small MagOps team responsible for the case about the lore surrounding the Elder Wand, then helping to identify what incoming intelligence from the field ops could possibly be connected with the Wand or the Hallows.

The greatest surprise had been the presence of many of his former school mates already assigned within MagOps – including Draco Malfoy who was working undercover for the department. As Aesalon put it, "between growing up with Harry Potter and fighting Voldemort as a school kid, that Hogwarts generation turned out more aurors and MagOps than any other in history." The familiar faces in the office sometimes made Harry feel this was just one big Dumbledore's Army reunion – he only wished he could have told Ron, Hermione and Ginny but there was no point in worrying them until there was actually something to tell them _about_.

With a jolt Harry was broken from his reverie by the realisation that he had almost reached his destination, the new location of the MagOps offices. He got off the bus in West London, having travelled most of the way across the city. He was less familiar with this part of town – most of the Ministry buildings were near the centre of London – and he had to wander around in circles for a bit to find the right street.

When he arrived at the address Malfoy had shown him, Harry almost thought he had remembered the address incorrectly – the building was anything but inconspicuous. The huge stone structure, almost fortress-like in its design, stuck out like a sore thumb against the small London flats that surrounded it. The building was surrounded by a barbed wire fence and a large iron gate blocked the main entrance which was flanked by two giant towers. As Harry approached the entrance, he could see through the iron gate and into the courtyard of the building beyond. There, he could just make out a strange sculpture which looked a giant iron face, the height of nearly two grown men, sitting in the courtyard.

Harry was about to turn back and write off this location as a mix up when the mouth of the mask-like sculpture opened and a voice boomed out, "State your name and rank!"

"Er... Harry Potter, Strategic Consultant for Special Magical Operations."

The iron gate swung open so Harry walked into the courtyard which suddenly appeared full of the MagOps staff.

"Hey Harry," called Jack Sloper. "Lend us a hand, would you? We've been moving things all morning trying to get this place into working condition."

Harry went over to Jack who was opening boxes with a wave of his wand and sending their contents off to various parts of the building.

"What is this place? Isn't this a little obvious, even if we're protected by a Fidelius charm?" As he spoke, Harry began to levitate another pile of boxes over to where they both stood.

"Aesalon said it's been under the Fidelius charm for years. Muggles think it's an archive for museum artefacts."

"Aren't archives supposed to be open to the public?"

"Muggles see a sign on the front that says the building is open by appointment only between 1pm and 2pm on Wednesday afternoons. No one is _ever_ available at 1pm on a Wednesday afternoon. Besides, there are other charms around this place. Most Muggles just forget about the building as soon as they walk past, even if they see it every day," explained Jack.

"What happened to Clearwater?" Harry asked.

"Dunno, it's bad news though. I think that's what we're about to find out. Aesalon wants to do a debriefing in ten minutes so you're just in time. There's a meeting room on the ground floor – just down that corridor. Only for people on the project of course." Jack looked around quickly. MagOps had any number of missions going on simultaneously and while Harry was acutely aware of the need to keep the knowledge that the Elder Wand was missing limited to as few people as possible, he figured that each other member of MagOps guarded their mission's secrets with the same sense of purpose – if not the same sense of self-protection.

"Alright, I'm going to see if I can figure out where someone put my office in this mess and I'll see you there in ten minutes."

Harry wandered through the unfamiliar corridors searching for his office. It took him nearly ten minutes and by the time he found the door with a brass plate bearing his name, he had to immediately take off in the other direction to find the meeting with Aesalon, Sloper, Malfoy and the rest of his team.

So far he had been running on adrenaline, ever since meeting Malfoy after dropping his youngest son off at Kings Cross and just outside the meeting room it all hit him at once – not only had he lost a colleague, but this was the escalation they had hoped to avoid. Someone knew they were after the Wand, someone knew where they worked, who was involved in the mission and exactly how to avoid them all. Harry slumped against the wall, taking deep, calming breaths and trying to regain control. Then, with a final exhale, he stepped through the doors into the meeting.

A/N: There is a pretty good picture of the entrance of Blythe House, the new MagOps location, here if anyone is curious: ./1114/4733050457_. Here's one of the whole building: .

Thanks for the reviews, soreye, I don't know why you put up with me – after 3 years of not updating anything you're still around to leave me a review, you're a total legend. Constructive criticism most appreciated


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